The Badaga of the Nilgiri Hills

--Due to the Muslim invasion that destroyed the Hindu Empire of Vijayanagar in AD 1565, a group of people from the plains of Mysore district was forced to flee their homes to later become the largest community in the Nilgiri hills (Hockings, #14).
--Collectively called the BADAGA, these people, who has a specific language called BADUGU, occupy a small district at the junction of Kerala, Kamataka, and Tamil Nadu states (#14). Villages are each inhabited only by Badagas of specific clans, often numbering about several hundred people each.
Initially, the Badagas subsisted by using slash and burn farming techniques. But recently, as a response to the growing middle class, they started producing cash crops for added income.
The community is divided into a number of phratries that function like subcastes in that they form hierarchies such as: The Lingayat and Wodeya which are at the top of the group, and the Toreyas at the bottom(#17).
--Different clans of various hierarchies all have specific functions in the community. The Tuneri village, for example, produces the hereditary position of Badaga chief, the Lingayat village, produces gurus that oversee life-cycle rituals, and the Wodeya, Haruva, and Kurumbu clans produce priests of various functions.
--Generally, the Badagas, farm millets, barley, wheat, potatoes, and cabbages (the latter two produced mainly for extra income). Industrially speaking, the Badagas did not have specialized artisans until later in the 1930's. Hence, they relied heavily on trading with neighbors, such as the Toda, Kota, and Kurumba tribes, for basic necessities.
While having fully developed verbal arts, no visual arts were practiced by them until recently. Hence, without proper documentation, early years of this culture may completely disappear.

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